Print Review: Bleach volumes 1-9

Review Bleach volumes 1-9Written by WarpshadowRating very good

Manga doesn't need to be deep or philosophical. Take Bleach for example. It promise to be a rollicking action manga and it delivers on that promise.

Ichigo Kurosaki always had the ability to see ghosts, other than that he was a normal although somewhat rough teenager. One day he saw two very unusual ghosts in his house, a rampaging monster called a hollow and a girl who gought it. When the girl was momentarily distracted she was critically injured by the hollow. The only way to keep the hollow from killing Ichigo's family was for the girl, Rukia to transfer her Soul Reaper powers to Ichigo. Even after his victory ichigo still has a lot of work ahead, namely he has to take over Rukia's job of hunting hollows.

Shonen manga is known for it's high energy action series and Bleach is an exemplar of this trend. Bleach by no means is all that philosophical or even all that that original but it sure is fun to read. The hero of the story, Ichigo, is a bit more of an antihero than your usual shonen protagonist and overall the manga never takes itself too seriously so the cynicism of many readers will be placated. What really makes this title tick is the action and Bleach delivers the action great big steaming heaps of ass kicking. As a result thought I found that I read through this manga far more quickly than most. It's a good that Bleach is a bit cheaper than most manga. Thus Bleach is a worthwhile purchase for just about any fan of shonen manga.